Change and Reform Vows to Follow Up on Issue of Forcibly Disappeared and Missing Persons
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc on Tuesday said “it is necessary to separate legislative work from political alignments,” stressing that “the issue of the forcibly disappeared and missing Lebanese persons needs efforts and a follow-up.”
“We discussed the legislative priorities, such as the coastal power line and the approval of the oil decrees and the need for the cabinet to convene,” MP Ibrahim Kanaan said after the bloc's weekly meeting in Rabieh, stressing that “these are national and not political issues.”
“We will follow up on all these issues,” Kanaan pledged, noting that “the administration and justice parliamentary committee will meet tomorrow to discuss the issue of the parliamentary electoral law in an attempt to find a fair law that represents all political groups.”
The lawmaker also called for separating legislative work from “political alignments.”
“The issue of the forcibly disappeared and missing Lebanese persons needs efforts and a follow-up,” he added.
Meanwhile, caretaker Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi, who took part in the bloc's meeting, told reporters in Rabieh that “the issue of the forcibly disappeared and detainees is among our priorities.”
“We will never forget it but we don't make seasonal overbids in this regard,” Qortbawi added.
“We put this issue as a priority in the cabinet's ministerial Policy Statement and the Ministry of Justice has send a draft decree on establishing the Independent Committee for the Forcibly Disappeared and Missing Persons.”
“We need an independent body to address the issue, that's why we sought to create this committee,” the minister added.
For his part, Change and Reform bloc MP Hikmat Dib noted that “Lebanese has not respected its missing persons and we must give answers to the families.”
“This is not aimed at reopening the wounds but rather at healing the wounds of the families,” Dib went on to say.
On Monday, Phalange bloc MP Sami Gemayel urged the state to address the issue of the Lebanese who are believed to be in Syrian jails, stressing that they are “detainees” and not “missing persons.”
Commenting on remarks voiced by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah only minutes before the news conference, Gemayel said: “The 622 names who are in Syria are not -- in any way whatsoever -- missing persons, but rather detainees, such as our comrade Butros Khawand, who was kidnapped from outside his home and was spotted in Syrian jails.”
Earlier on Monday, Nasrallah congratulated the nine Lebanese pilgrims on their safe return to Lebanon after a 17-month kidnap ordeal in Syria's Aazaz, hoping this development would pave the way for resolving the case of Lebanese held in Israel and Syria.
He suggested that mechanisms be set in place to tackle these issues.
He revealed: “I have received word from Syria that it is willing to help resolve the cases of missing persons and we hope these efforts will yield happy endings.”
29 October 2013, 19:11
148
I thought aoun said Syria had nobody in prison and he believed them :)
now that Sami Gemayel talked about this again they come up with this BS?
who are they fooling?
29 October 2013, 19:53
139
I am really happy I don't see much anymore of the Pijjama senile boy!!
29 October 2013, 20:14
149
Ft Ghazi Aad SOLIDE LIBAN, bass! He hasn't been a member of Aoun's cult for years, it's like saying Sami Nader is a member of the FPM, or Nadim Ltef or Elias Zoghbi for that matter. Aoun betrayed every single issue he's ever endorsed. Aoun only remembers some issue when it's politically expedient, a typical lowlife populist demagogue!
29 October 2013, 20:54
145
Where is Mr. Aoun anyways? This is probably the second or third week he hasn't graced us with his unceremonious Tuesdays rant.
30 October 2013, 17:51
72
e gemayels have been leading kataeb since forever, and the hariris have been leading the sunnis since the 80's. none have one iota of what democracy and rotaiton means"
and FT forgot ON PURPOSE his main ally hezbollah who has a secretary general FOR LIFE... who canceled elections inside hezbollah? nasrallah! LOL and his other ally? berry? LOL and frangié? LOL and... and....
oh! and speaking of democracy: isn't it funny for a man criticizing feudal traditions in lebanon to have placed ALL HIS FAMILY in key posts? LOL
and he lectures on gemayel, hariri, jumblatt? ? LOL what a farce this parasite is.....
who has given posts traditionnally given to christians to the chias to please them? oh! aoun!!!!!
29 October 2013, 21:09
22
In all fairness one guy, a member of the R&C block (not FPM), has been personally and sometimes privately very closely following the file of the missing in Syrian is MP Ghassan Moukheiber I know that fact first hand, credit where credit is due Ghassan have there from the very beginning.
29 October 2013, 21:27
135
LOL! after aoun has said ": this file has become a myth", told the mothers to forget about it and turn the page, that there were no prisoners in syria...
now as a populist move want people to believe they are the only ones to take care of this! LOL
aoun has long forgotten those of CPL who fought syrians and were kidnapped and brought to syria....
29 October 2013, 21:35
135
"In a recent TV interview, Aoun has publicly denied the presence of any of his followers and party members in the Syrian jails." oct 2006 http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=1965
"In an interview with As-Sharq al-Awsat on Saturday, Aoun said that some of the missing persons had died in prison while others died in Lebanon and were not taken to Syria." nov 2008
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nownews/missing_lebanese_not_a_critical_issue_for_aouns_syrian_visit
29 October 2013, 22:05
124
and here he denies that there are any of his supporters in syrian jails...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlPdszrDP2E
29 October 2013, 22:13
124
this all but a populist move by FPM to try and clean its image as since 2000 many MPs , ministers, not from FPM tried and asked assad to free these prisoners... ( http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/Rapport_alternatif_Solida_Syrie_2005_ENG_.pdf)
but the hypocrisy lies in the fact that aoun NEVER asked bashar while in damascus the fate of these people... saying it was not critical! LOL he even backed bashar by saying no prisoners in syria! LOL
and now they come as if they are the saviors? what a hypocrisy and a joke....
30 October 2013, 09:00
37
it's strange how people don't know this stuff, and more surprising of all the thumb downs you get. I suppose they're either hate for you being flamethrower or hate because of saying the truth. A mix of both no doubt toplel.
29 October 2013, 22:40
106
So let me get this straight:
i) aoun's partisans and officers were kidnapped by the syrians in '89 and '90 and been rotting in syrian jails with other fellow Lebanese
ii) aoun "the return" declared after meeting with bashar in 2007 that no lebanese are in syrian jails, cause "bashar told me so"
iii) in 2013 hassouna said that there are lebanese in syrian jails, and all of a sudden aoun and his puppets want to follow-up on the issue.
what a joke and how credible is this guy is, and how smart are the people who blindly follow him???
29 October 2013, 22:45
107
"the second demand is to establish a serious and legal mechanism to tackle this file through official channels and not through political figures such as Michel Aoun or any other political leader, because this is not the way to deal with such a humanitarian issue at this scale, and it touches all the Lebanese with different political and ethnic affiliations."
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/interviews/talking_to_solide_founder_ghazi_aad
sure FPM now remembers there are prisoners in syria, how strange! seems they need to clean their image as brave populists they are! LOL
oups FT is going to say it is BS because it comes from now media! LOL
29 October 2013, 22:53
810
All innocent Lebanese being held unlawfully in any country (Israel, Syria) need to be released.
30 October 2013, 00:28
83
As I remember correctly, Aoun returned from Syria and insinuated that we ask Syria for forgiveness. He further tried to flip the Lebanese prisoner file from being a problem for the Syrians who abducted them to a problem for the LF who he claims killed them and dumped them in a mass grave on the highway. Now the Aouni's want to tackle this file as a priority again?
For the love of God, we ask our brothers the Aouni's to have pity on the families of the abducted Lebanese and stop dishonouring, and disrespecting the Lebanese dead and missing with their cheap publicity stunts.
